A couple of weeks ago, Finn had his 4-month check-up. During that visit, I worked up the courage to confess something to our pediatrician: I’d been letting Finn taste a lot of things. Like, A LOT of things.
To my surprise, her response was, “Great! That’s exactly what you should be doing. Let him taste everything.” I don’t think she realized the beast she was unleashing with that directive.
She calls it “food for fun.” At Finn’s age, he really shouldn’t be eating meals of solids; he shouldn’t be missing out on breast milk for other foods, but she encouraged us to let him try everything we eat–“just for fun.”
She said that trying a variety of things will help develop his palate. And, since everyone expects our kid to be a gourmand, that’s something that appeals to us. Plus, I’ve read enough hipster baby books to know that European babies are eating things like pureed leeks. Leeks! And they turn out to be pretty adventurous eaters.
More importantly, though, she said that exposing him to a variety of foods–including allergenic foods–will significantly decrease the chances that he’ll develop food allergies.
This is something we were already thinking about, as much of the research we did before having Finn seemed to suggest the same thing. Even the pediatrician who led our how-to-care-for-your-newborn class discouraged us from waiting to introduce allergenic foods.
“Shouldn’t we only introduce one new food every three days?” I asked. “Nope,” our doctor replied. “That’s old school thinking.”
According to this Slate article, and many like it, “In light of the changing tide, back in 2008, the American Academy of Pediatrics published new recommendations that reversed its old dogma. ‘Although solid foods should not be introduced before 4 to 6 months of age,’ it wrote, ‘there is no current convincing evidence that delaying their introduction beyond this period has a significant protective effect.'”
Of course, our pediatrician cautioned against giving him every known allergenic in one meal. “Don’t give him crab legs and eggs and peanut butter at the same time,” she joked. But she did say that we should be introducing those things, one at a time, sooner rather than later.
So, we have. To date, Finn has tasted–and sometimes tasted again and again–a lot of stuff. This may make some moms’ heads explode, but our little guy has had: avocado, vinegar, tea, raw tuna, eggs, peanut butter, milkshake, lemon, apple, pear, pumpkin, popsicles, Christmas cookies, pickles (he LOVES pickles), pasta with roasted tomatoes and broccoli rabe, yogurt, hummus, whipped cream, creme brulee, apple sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, banana, creamed corn, chocolate, candy cane, french toast, bacon, and even a taste of champagne.
Are you ready to give me the Mom of the Year award, yet? I didn’t think so.
He’s been tasting so much stuff, lately, that’s it’s become a running joke in our house. My parents will call and ask, “So, what has Finn eaten today?”
He’s catching on, too. For the first week or so, I had to coax him to open his mouth, and he didn’t really chew. Instead, he’d just suck on whatever I gave him until it was all gone. And he always made a terrible face. No. Matter. What. His initial reaction to every food was to look at me like I’d just tricked him into licking turpentine.
Now, not only does he open his mouth the second he sees me coming, he also spends a good bit of time “chewing” whatever we give him. That is, as much as a kid without teeth can chew.
Further, he’s starting to want a taste of everything. Whenever he sees us eating, he looks at us and gives a little “What about me?!” squeal.
Today, I was eating leftover pasta for lunch, and he wasn’t going to let me eat in peace until I gave him a bite. Or twenty. I think I’ve created a monster.
I’m having so much fun, letting Finn taste everything and watching his reaction. Too much fun, maybe. I should probably scale it back a bit, and I plan on making some homemade veggie purees so that there are go-to healthy options. (I mean, most things that are the right consistency are sweet, right?!)
But we do feel good about letting him explore a variety of flavors. He’s already shown that he has no aversion to spicy stuff. This weekend, we’re heading to New Mexico to spend time with Sona’s family. There will be tons of homemade Indian food, and we are already planning on letting Finn try most of it.
When our pediatrician told us that we should start playing with “food for fun,” I think she meant that the one having most of the fun would (should) be Finn. Oh, was she wrong.
